ON THE BOUNDARY - West Indies in with a big chance

Tony Becca

THE CURTAIN comes down on the three-match one-day series between the West Indies and England at Trent Bridge in Nottingham tomorrow and, believe it or not, the West Indies are in with a chance of winning it.

After two matches the score is 1-1 and, with a little luck, with some better batting in the first match, it could easily have been all over. It could have been 2-0 with the West Indies already celebrating victory.

It is said that the shorter the match, the more even the contest, and that is exactly what the limited-overs contests between the West Indies and England have shown so far.

After losing the four-match Test series 3-0, the West Indies shared the two-match Twenty20 series 1-1 and have so far shared the spoils in the one-day competition.

A victory tomorrow would be a nice ending to the tour and, based on their bowling and their fielding in the two previous matches, they can do it.

In match number one, their bowling, led by pacers Ravi Rampaul, Daren Powell, Fidel Edwards - five for 45, and Dwayne Smith, and supported by some excellent fielding, removed England for 225.

To the disappointment of West Indian fans the world over, however, their batting, but for Shivnarine Chanderpaul, failed miserably and they crashed to defeat.

After skidding to 13 for four, the West Indies never recovered and lost by 79 runs.

Dismissed England

In match number two, however, the West Indies, sent to bat and thanks to Chanderpaul, 116 not out, and Marlon Samuels, 77, rattled up 278 for five, and again thanks to Rampaul - four for 44, Powell, Edwards and Dwayne Bravo, along with some wonderful fielding, dismissed England for 217 to win by 61 runs.

Can they repeat Wednesday's feat? Of course they can.

Although his form has been terrible, captain Christopher Gayle is always dangerous, andapart from Bravo, Devon Smith and Runako Morton can score a few runs.

The key is Chanderpaul, and to a lesser extent, Samuels. If they get going, as Chanderpaul has been doing all summer and as Samuels did on Wednesday, they can once again dominate this England attack, even if Ryan Sidebottom is still in and Monty Panesar is still out.

No great shakes

The England batting, without the likes of Marcus Trescothick, Michael Vaughan and Andrew Flintoff, and even with Kevin Pietersen, is no great shakes; the West Indies pacers, led by Rampaul, have been bowling fairly accurately, Edwards has been bowling fast and, for a change, the West Indies fielders have been brilliant.

Looking at the last four matches, at the four limited-overs games, they also have been consistently brilliant.

What is interesting is tha the West Indies have bowled 135.5 overs in the four limited-overs matches to date they have used six bowlers on three occasions and five on one, even though Samuels has bowled in three while conceding 52 runs off four in one, 31 off three in another and 18 off five in the other, Gayle, the captain, has bowled only three deliveries.

Is it because those three deliveries, in the second Twenty20 match, cost him nine runs? Is it that he is injured? Or is it that he does not agree with his former captains that he can bowl, or better still, with coach David Moore, that he is the best spin bowler in the West Indies?